How Emotion is Killing Agriculture

I think agriculture is battling one of the hardest, most silent battles of all. Emotional advertising. I’ve wrote about this before, but I don’t think people realize how hard it is for agriculture to stand up to emotion. We can’t show a hog smiling as it’s going into the slaughter house. We can’t show people getting the nutrition from the food we raise. We have to rely on facts and evidence.

Unlike the opposing.

They can use everything we do to our animals, for their health, against us by using emotional words to make others feel sympathetic and sad. Even just showing the eyes of an animal with sad music can draw people in.

How can a farmer compete with that? How can we use emotion to show what we are doing is right? We can’t. Nothing we do is sad or emotional. And if we do show something emotional (like the birth of a new animal) we are criticized for then butchering that animal for meat. “How can you love something and then just send it off to be butchered!!!”

That is where agriculture is stuck. We can’t show corn growing, play sad music, and expect to get the same reaction.

The opposing is using our own lively hoods against us. Things we do to help the animals is used against us to make people feel compassionate for the ‘harsh’ treatment the animals receive. We can’t even use new technology to help feed people across the world because that is ‘selfish of us to use technology in today’s food system’.

It’s a frustrating problem, but one that all farmer’s can overcome. We’ve survived droughts, the depression, and the farm crisis. We can survive this. We just need to stick together and make sure that people ARE receiving the facts. Take them to your farm and show them what you do. Tell them why you do the things you do. Make sure they feel at ease with everything you’re doing. Explain to them what happens if you don’t do what you do. Keep a smile on your face and remember that what you’re doing is worth so much more than they will ever know.

This is a wonderful, very human, and very emotional (in a good way) post! I also think that sharing your story like on your “About Kellie” page is very effective. Your love of nature, plants, and an outdoors-based life dependent on nature really shines through. I left a longer post on a more recent article where I talked about taking a balanced approach, and this article definitely helps reach a better balance. Thank you!

Its really evident how emotion can also influence a lot of people by showing them which kind of emotion did you use. Meaning, the success of something also depends to the way you handle your emotions and if how persistent you are. I like the way of this article wanted to show us the real value of emotion when applied in agricultural matters. Great work!

As a new & learning woman in the agriculture field I have found myself having to separate my feelings , especially as slaughter time approaches. I have to remember I was out with these hogs every day & night making sure they were taken care of. I don’t think people realize raising livestock is more then a way of life. It’s a pride in knowing you provide your own food & food for others. I’m blessed to have become a farm girl & excited to see where the journey will take me. I just hope people can see although the hogs will go to slaughter I care for them as much as I do for my indoor dogs & pet Pygmy goats. It’s all about treating them humanely.

Girl, if selling your animals EVER gets easy, you need to find a new job. I cry EVERY SINGLE TIME I have to sell an animal. Bawling my eyes out. I know what I’m doing is right, but it still hurts. It’s good it bothers you. It just shows how much you care! (But we can’t let other people’s emotions influence how to feed the world off of salad.)